


Pontifex

by Kymopoleia



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: Cats, Dumb snakes, M/M, Stuff happens
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-10-19
Updated: 2014-10-20
Packaged: 2018-02-21 17:57:17
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,773
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2477249
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kymopoleia/pseuds/Kymopoleia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jason Grace is appointed pontifex maximus of New Rome, but he doesn't know about the skeleton in his closet. Well, more like ghost over his cat.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Soooo yeah take it

A pair of gleaming eyes awaited Jason in the dark of the praetor's apartment. He'd gone to gather his old things, and couldn't help but yelp in surprise and draw his sword. The glow of the imperial gold blade, however, proved that it was not a threat, but instead a cat.

The cat was a mottled white and blood red Persian with a squashed face. Jason knew it, and the pearl and imperial gold collar around its neck- this was Denny, Octavian's cat.

Jason turns on the light, and sheathed his gladius, unsure of what to do with the cat. It was staring at him expectantly with its clear blue eyes, too similar to its deceased owner.

"Here, kitty." Jason said awkwardly. It came to him, leaping off the top of the couch. It wound between his ankles, meowing obnoxiously. Jason could recall all of the times Octavian had come to him in a panic over his missing cat, and Jason had always been glad to help, because atleast when the augur was mad with panic, and then meek with gratitude, he hadn't been sucking up to Jason.

After bending down to pick Denny up, Jason moves through the apartment, deciding what was his, what he could keep, and what he could not. A pair of suitcases were lain out on the bed, but Denny had laid down in one after it had been filled with his clothing. It seemed obvious that the cat knew his intentions to leave the space, and was... The only word he can think is *demanding*, he take it with him.

Jason spends the next two hours reminiscing, and petting the cat. He can't help but talk to it, telling Denny about the deal with Kymopoleia, and how he had no idea where to start. He knew the shrines would be easiest- just tell the camps which gods and goddesses needed them, make sure the building plans were honorable and correct, and oversee the building of them. The action figure and training cards, however, were the parts he was worried about.

Denny offered no advice, only several high pitched meows and a deep, rumbling purr whenever Jason ran his hand through her fur.

After he was fully packed, with both suitcases and a duffel bag packed, he picked Denny up. "You want to be mine, girl?"

She purred in response, one paw batting at his chest.

Jason laughs, knowing that had been answer enough.

-

Octavian was furious.

He had died painfully, when the flames spread through his robes. His gold jewelry had scorched rough marks into his skin, and his throat had been raw with pain from his screams.

Once he reached the underworld, there had been a brief argument with Charon before he accepted that yes, the imperial gold necklace Octavian gave him was real, and that no, he would not use the rest of his jewelry to pay for more of the dead to cross the Styx.

After that, Octavian had been ushered before the three judges, Shakespeare, Minos, and Joan D'arc, he had violently been ripped from the scene.

Octavian didn't know what had siezed his spirit, but before he could be judged- and oh, Shakespeare had been pleading his case- he'd found himself in the praetor apartment bedroom he knew to be traitor Jason Grace's. Whom was alive, well, and holding Denny, Octavian's lovely Persian.

Octavian had arrived just in time to hear this- "You want to be mine, girl?"

He watched in horror as Denny batted at Jason's hand with her paw, then in rage as Jason laughed. What the hell was Jason Grace doing with his damn cat?

Octavian still remembered when he'd gotten the sweet Persian about three years before, on the second night of a bacchanalia event. He and a few of the other centurions- Michael, Dakota, Jason, Leila, and Reyna, had gone, drunkenly, to a Denny's near the roman camp. Outside, Octavian had found a filthy kitten, meowing pitifully from a mound of rubbish. He had washed her in the men's washroom with Jason, whom had always been a large influence in the cat's life. It was all too obvious that she saw them both as her owners, not just Octavian. However, it still hurt, because towards the end of Octavian's life, he had grown to hate Jason Grace.

Just the thought makes his spectral blood boil.

-

Jason decided, after very little time, that he needed to leave the roman military officially. Frank and Reyna smiled at him when he told them, and announced it at the next meeting of the council. Obviously, he was more than welcome in their camp, but still. The point stood, a newly christened pontifex maximus could not be a mere legionnaire, he had to be something more. Even being considered a centurion was apparently not good enough, he was told that he would have a place above that.

With Rachel Elizabeth Dare being elected as the new augur, and himself the pontifex, Jason expected strange and great things to come.

Jason's new home was paid for by the roman fund, because they believed their pontifex should have nothing if not the best. It wasn't very big, a two story townhouse close to the shrines. Since he would be in charge of expanding the lot and erecting more, it truly was only fair.

Denny appreciated the new abode. It had a thin set of mahogany stairs, which she loved to go up and down in the middle of the night, the tips of her claws making sharp clacking sounds that made it hard for Jason to sleep. The first floor had about three usable rooms and a small bathroom, and a little patio in the front. The second floor had a balcony hanging over the patio, and two bedrooms and a master bathroom as big as either of the bedrooms. It was nice. The second bedroom was kept as a guest room, and the one connected to the bathroom became Jason's.

It didn't take more than a month for the trip to become sour.

Piper IMed him with bad news- she was breaking up with him to join the Hunters of Artemis. She had decided on impulse that the immortality offered with maidenhood was sweeter than a boyfriend who wasn't going to be able to be around. Well, she had explained it wasn't exactly that selfish. Thalia, Jason's sister, needed a new second in command, and the daughter of Aphrodite fit the role well. Jason had half expected to hear Annabeth was joining the group too.

But, the point stood. Now a bachelor, he had plenty of time to work on the plans. He turned one of the rooms downstairs into a study, and the other into a living room. The other was a kitchen that was put into good use.

Apparently, being pontifex also meant that house guests were going to be there 24/7. Romans would come to him for advice or to give suggestions, and to give him offerings. Luckily, the townhouse came with a fireplace, so he was able to keep the hearth going for the offerings he was constantly having to burn.

It was obvious that the ones giving him these offerings were more greek, but he couldn't find it in himself to be annoyed.

-

Octavian hated the new home and watching Denny with Jason. He hated being dead. He hated that his hands went through things like smoke. He hated that he wasn't even a lar, and that the lares could not see him. He could not walk through walls, could not fly (though, in all honesty, he didn't want to), and he was bound to Denny, meaning he had to watch Jason damned Grace waltz around, a pair of imperial gold framed glasses hanging off the tip of his nose.

After six months of watching Jason Grace, Octavian was unhappy. And, of course, there was that damn snake.

-

Jason adored Medea.

Not the original one, whom he had met on that quest with Piper and Leo, but Medea, the pet snake he'd had for a good seven, eight years now.

She was an eight foot long boa constrictor, and she was the sweetest, most dumb giant baby he knew. When she was only the length of his forearm, Medea had loved to curl up in his pocket, or in the leather on his armor. As she'd gotten bigger and heavier, she'd found it harder and harder to climb Jason to curl up on him to sleep.

Jason had nearly forgotten about her on the Gaea quest. But now that he was working, he had her back.

At first he'd worried about her and Denny, but the pair got along famously. The only worrying thing was Medea trying to climb something that wasn't there behind Denny.

It happened often. She would slink into a room, see Denny, stare at the cat for a minute, then start to try to climb the air behind Denny. And when she failed and fell, she would go to Jason to pout.

It was weird.


	2. Chapter 2

After he finished building the first temple to Kymopoleia in New Rome, and had the builders set on their paths for sixteen other shrines, Jason went to camp Half-blood. He didn't bring much, just a duffel and Denny. He didn't know why, but he needed the cat with him. He'd had Frank take care of Medea in his stead.

The trip to the camp was quick, with little interference. Ever since he'd started honoring more gods and goddesses, he'd noticed a lot of problems seemed to... Disappear. And even if problems did arise, his gladius did the trick.

At camp, no one questioned Denny. The Aphrodite cabin snatched her up nigh immediately, cooing over her silky fur and pretty eyes. One girl asked him where he got her, and he had to admit that he and- he'd said "a friend"- found her outside a Denny's when she was a kitten. He had also admitted she hadn't come to him until said friend died. The aphrodite cabin ate the story up, and cooed over the cat.

Cabin One hadn't changed. He hadn't expected it to. He spread all of his work that he'd brought out on one of the cold marble beds, and took a deep breath. It was time for him to work on the trading cards and action figure aspect of his promise.

He truly had no idea where to start. He could do shrines and temples and offerings all day, but this? No.

There's a knock on his door, and Jason gets up to go get it.

-

Octavian has only met one child of Venus that he liked, and that was Michael Kahale. The group surrounding his dear, sweet Denny are obnoxious, loud, and too busy fawning over her to realize Jason Grace had walked away.

Octavian was furious with the situation.

It was after a few minutes of angrily yelling at girls who couldn't hear him that something strange happened.

"Hey."

Octavian felt like the word was directed at him. So, naturally, he turned to look for the source.

Sitting on a set of cabin sets to his left was a girl with long, black hair, tied to the side in a loose ponytail. She had a black tank top on, and a pair of jeans. Her feet were encased in a pair of black high heels, and her neck had a leather necklace with a handful of beads strung on it, as well as a chunky ring.

"You in the white. Loud boy."

Octavian hurries over to her. "You can see me?" He asks, eyes wide with wonder.

She snorts and pats the steps next to her. "And you can see me. Sit down, okay?"

Octavian did. "Who are you?"

"My name is Lexie. Question is, who are you?"

"Octavian. How can you see me?"

"Because I'm dead too."

Octavian notices the dried blood on the back of her head. "Oh. Why are we still here?"

"Who knows."

"Which god were you related to?"

"Hebe. Beauty and youth." Lexie laughs bitterly. "Guess you can say I really got those two traits in the bag, I've been stuck here since the battle of manhattan."

"So you saw the fall of Gaea?" Octavian asks.

"Yeah. Kinda impressive, you were the one who went up in flames, right? False pontifex and all?"

"I was the real pontifex." Octavian hisses. "My forefather Apollo-"

"Blessed you with the gift of prophecy, right?" Lexie finishes. "Uh huh. See how that went for you?"

"It went beautifully. I was augur for Camp Jupiter, and I became pontifex maximus, and I was so close to becoming praetor-"

"How did you expect to be everything at once?"

Octavian can't answer her.

-

Jason opened his door to see Nico di Angelo, in all of his glory. He had a new jacket, an orange camp half blood shirt, and a necklace with beads for every year since the winter he and Bianca- the girl Jason had never met, but had heard about- had been found. Sure, he hadn't actually been at camp, but he deserved them.

Nico comes into the cabin, and Jason sighs in relief. "Nico, do you know anything about trading cards? Kymopoleia..." He trails off, gesturing at the workspace.

Nico turns around, a hint of a smile on his lips. He hands Jason a box the length of his forearm, about five inches tall, and four inches wide.

"You should have come to me sooner."

"What is this?"

"I don't have any of my old mythomagic cards, but those are Magic: The Gathering. Close enough, and good enough for you to learn about cards."

Jason's eyebrows furrow. "Magic the what?"

"Gathering." Nico repeats. "Card game. Come here, let me teach you."

And he does. Within three hours, Jason Grace learns the ins and outs of the game, and has a head full of ideas for Kymopoleia's request. And, if he talks to some children of Hecate, he might have the action figure sorted out too.

The cards themselves are simple. They each have a name in the center of the card, a few symbols on the top right hand corner, and a pair of numbers in the lower right hand corner. There is a picture above the name, and a description of what the card does below it. The top right symbols determine the kinds of land you need to lay the card down, and the numbers on the lower right corner represent attack and defense.

Jason was already sketching out ideas when it became dinner time. All of the writer's block from the past seven months melted away, and the pieces fell into place. He even brought the notebook with him to dinner, barely paying attention to the food on his plate.

It wasn't until a paw found its way onto his paper that he looks up.

-

Octavian ended up spending the rest of the day talking to Lexie. It had been so long since he had spoken to someone and heard a reply back, he was drunk on the sensation. She seemed content to speak to him, and mentioned she'd met one other like them, but that he was long gone now.

She had mentioned, too, that the king of ghosts- Nico di Angelo- could not see them. Something about their existence made them invisible to him. Considering Octavian's last encounter with him, he was glad to hear that.

The main thing he gathered from their interaction was this; they had no idea why they were not in the underworld, no idea what or whom had pulled them out, and no chance to truly find out. It was all quite disheartening.

At dinner, Octavian sits next to Jason so he can read the papers the other had worked on, and finds that they are all sketches and diagrams of cards. Like card games. The example is of Cymopoleia, Poseidon's daughter, and the goddess of violent storms. Octavian finds himself feeling a surge of approval, and pulls back. The plans are very well thought out.

Jason is quiet as he works, and Octavian finds he likes that better than the singing. Truly, Jason is awful.

Denny finds her way over, a younger sibling of Lexie's bearing the weight of the Persian. One of Denny's paws splays out onto Jason's paper, causing the son of Jupiter to look up, then thank the girl.

Octavian knows that Denny cannot see him, or probably feel him either, but he reaches out absentmindedly to stroke her fur.

Nothing happens. He doesn't know what he expected.


End file.
